Excellent find! I had traced and repaired a mechanical fault in my Philips VR999 VCR but on trial found the lack of responses you describe. Your 10 mins vid resulted in great joy when I put the top cover back in place. Many thanks.

Good video. Thanks📼👍🏻 I have vhs tapes 4000-5000 and many vcr here Finland Nostalgia Museum😎👍🏻

Thanks for posting this. I've no experience servicing these babies, and had no idea about "light interference." We had just got our old Philips S-VHS deck out of storage and took the lid off to clean the heads. Turned some bright room lights on (the better to inspect for dust etc.) and had the same problem, controls going nuts--"Stop/Eject" triggers FF, "Play" registers as such on the TV screen, but it doesn't play, etc. So now we'll try it again with the lid back on!

The very first VHS VCRs used real bulbs for the tape end sensors! You could actually see an orange light inside the cassette mechanism. These were pretty common on the first RCA/Panasonic and JVC machines up till 1981.

Hi, I have come into possession of an (NTSC), Phillips VR255/75. As per usual second hand, no remote. I have only managed to find a 'Spec', sheet for it. But I was hoping there was away using the buttons on the device to force it to the 'AV', channel? It stops at one counting down, using the channel buttons. I suppose I better force it to count up to what I assume will be 99. It is not outputting off the leads to my modern TV. Funny as I can actually directly plug a PS2 in without having to use and Upscaler to HDMI. In between. Both Devices I have are showing as NTSC. We are on 50HZ, mains here in New Zealand and use the lower density Pal Standards for all our old broadcasts, prior to digital. I am kind of hoping my T.V. is clever enough to re-sync. The Upscaler is showing a display, so this sort of suggest that the T.V. is agnostic to Pal/NTSC conversion. Anyway upshot at moment now output, no remote. Thanks if you can help me. I used to do some of this work too. We used to buy in the rubber drive belts from another supplier. Used in so many mechanical devices right through. :)

Spent another 20 minutes on it. My theory about channel select was right. Now weirdly I am getting Audio output to the TV, either directly hooked or up scaled to the USB/HDMI device. I am going to purchase a new video cable tomorrow as I have no continuity testing (multi meter). I have over 30 to 40 years of cables. So always amuses me, when I can't find one to use, easily. :) 'Murphies Law - How I got so good at fixing everything :). TV, is syncing correctly and is reporting it as 720P (NTSC resolution), but then fails to produce and output from there (A bit weird that?).

I know it's possible for some bulbs to interfere with the infrared remote sensor, but I've never seen it specific to rewind before! Been a very long time since I've seen a VCR that messes up due to light when the cover is removed - most have the sensors shielded these days so stray light can't trip them.

This VCR has an identity crisis. On the outside, it says Philips and Magnavox but on the inside, it's a JVC.

So if the machine is fully assembled and won't rewind, but shuts down and powers down with a 1 showing on the face what's wrong?

these repair guys just talk to themselves, they are not really explaining much to anyone watching wanting to fix their own stuff, and not as expert as them....sure is a 'duh' moment for me!

Sounds like a dirty Mode Encoder Switch problem that needs cleaning.

Mine was working well and now I'm getting an error code 3. Tape won't inject, mechanism won't engage. Now I have to mess around. I've had this VCR since the beginning. Not giving up on it yet.

What could cause the tape to play fine for 3 seconds, then vcr stops, ejects and turns off player? I cleaned the contact gear wheel thingy which was full of grease. I have a magnavox model. What else could I check? Any help appreciated.

Hey, my philips magnavox works up until you have to hit the play button. Everytime i hit the play button nothing happens. Im really stumped and not sure how to fix it.

I have this exact model dug it out and attempting to put a tape into it and it would not insert. Any ideas?

Hello. got a "Made in Hungary" DVD Recorder AND VHS combo..DVD Is fine Buu VHS ejects tape just after insertion. Clean mode switch?

My Philips-Magnavox has belts, not gears. I turned it on for the first time in 10 years and it will not play, rewind, or fast forward. What should I check first, should I replace the belts?

This JVC tape transport in a Philips Magnavox VCR?

Why would the light affect it ?

Mine is showing the number 3 and blinking ?

Hello everyone I have the same VCR/DVD combo and seriously I probably only used it maybe 10 times in its life and I’ve owned it now for 15 years the other day or today actually I put a brand new VHS tape in it and the counter came on but when I hit play nothing happened and the machine turns itself off, if I turn it back on and I hit play, It will always eject the tape. Does anyone know why it is doing this? Or is there an easy fix?

top right corner of your vcr, where the power cord connects to the main board, there's a black square piece with two copper coils that is directly next to the power cord connector. what is that piece for? a common problem with these type of vcrs? i have a very similar philips vcr (vr960b) that looks nearly identical to yours. when i plug in the power cord to the wall there's a humming sound that comes from that little plastic square w/ the two copper wrapped coils. and when i push the power on, the vcr will continue humming and it gets a little louder. after about a minute the whole vcr shuts off by itself. no power. i can't play anything on the vcr. any idea what it could be? possibly that little coil?

Mode switch